Valero Texas Open: Power Rankings at TPC San Antonio

Sergio Garcia is making his first Texas Open start since 2010 this week. He tied for 45th in his lone start in the Lone Star state’s Open. It’s a little surprising Garcia hasn’t played here more considering he was consulted by the Oaks Course designer, Greg Norman, during its creation in 2010.

“It was definitely a great experience. I think the golf course has come out great. Probably just a little bit tougher than we maybe expected at the beginning but it’s very good,” Garcia said in 2010. “We had a lot of good feedback from players and it’s a challenging golf course. You have to drive the ball well. It’s quite challenging around the greens.”

Aside from that dreaded 13 he made at Augusta that led to a missed cut, Garcia’s been playing great golf in 2018.

The Spaniard started his year with a win at the Asian Tour/Japan Tour’s Singapore Open and later posted a T7 at the WGC-Mexico Championship, solo fourth at the Valspar Championship and advanced to the round of 16 at the WGC-Match Play.

Garcia is first on Tour in strokes gained approach-the-green and in SG tee-to-green.

This will be close to a home game for Garcia who resides in Austin about 80 miles northeast from TPC San Antonio with his wife and former University of Texas women’s golfer, Angela Akins. He took last week off, so a rested Garcia should be in position for a high finish this week.